I may have to stick to you like glue, Billy had said. Well, there were worse people to be stuck to. I wasn't going to complain, especially not after that kiss he'd given me. We drove to my flat and he made himself at home on the sofa.

I hurried into the kitchen and tied on an apron. "You want muffins for supper?" I asked impertinently, peeking out into the living room.

He looked up, hands pausing in the action of taking off his tie. "You make bootleg muffins!?"

I giggled. "I was pulling your leg, Billy!" I started warming up a few cans of beans and cooking some frankfurters and onions.

He came to the kitchen door to watch me. "Franks n' beans?"

I nodded, setting out two plates and forks. "I would have made something else, but...I wasn't expecting anyone. And I haven't sold any stories lately, so this is all I have."

"Do you still have Neil's flat over by NoLuk territory?" Billy sat down at the table.

"I had to let it go." I stirred the beans so I wouldn't have to look at Billy. "I can't pay two rents with what I make off my stories. I can barely pay this one."

"What did the NoLuks want?" He asked suddenly, leaning his elbows on the table.

"They wanted to know where Neil was. I told them he was dead, but they didn't believe me!" My eyes started stinging, and it wasn't because of the onions.

"They didn't?" Billy frowned. "If anyone ought to know, it should be them!"

The spoon clanked against the edge of the pot as though it had a mind of its own. "W-what do you mean?"

"You know how Neil died in his fight?"

"What!" I spun around and met Billy's eyes.

"You didn't know?" He sighed when I shook my head. "Neil was the one who warned Lulu that Shamus had it in for me after my cover was blown. He died during his next fight with the NoLuks. I think Shamus worked with someone in the Tong to fix the fight. Which means that someone could still be informing on both sides."

I sat down across from him, feeling dizzy. "But why did they say they didn't believe me?"

"Xiao was the one who didn't believe you," he corrected me. "How did you not know Neil died in the ring?"

"No one told me! My current beau came to the door the next morning and mumbled something about Neil being hit in the head, then left. None of them ever came back. By the time I got to the morgue, he'd already been put in an overcoat."

"I bet everyone in the gang knew about it. Your current beau?" Billy looked around as though he expected another man to walk into the kitchen.

"The man I was seeing that week," I explained. "His name w-"

"I don't care what his name was! You were with a different man each week?" I nodded and Billy whistled. "Not even Lulu saw a different man each week."

I crossed my arms. "I'm not some cheap quiff, Billy. I made each man supper and we talked, maybe took a walk, then did some...necking."

He rolled his eyes. "You just called Lulu a quiff...again."

"I hated it!" I burst out. "I'd rather have spent the evenings alone! I just want to go steady with someone now, Billy!" I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.

"It's okay, Doll." Billy rose from his chair and hugged me for a moment before taking the beans off the stove and serving both of us.

I poked at the beans with my fork. "Why did Xiao ask me where Neil was if he already knew?"

Billy shrugged. "No idea. Unless he was just trying to put on a front so Madame Yu and the rest of the Tong wouldn't realize he fixed the fight."

I tried to enjoy the meal, but my mind was spinning worse than the time I had tried to write a mystery story after a few too many glasses of wine. Billy was quiet, too. I caught him looking at me every few minutes with an unreadable expression.

I got up to clear the dishes away and he spoke up. "If you hated it so much, why didn't you say something? Like...'Not tonight, I'm washing my hair,' or just 'No?'"

I dropped the dishes in the sink and laughed over my shoulder, trying to ignore the tension in the air. "Washing my hair! The thought didn't cross my mind. I was just getting started with my stories and I needed inspiration for the love scenes. I wouldn't have spent all those evenings for nothing. Love doesn't pay the rent "

"Really?" Billy shook his head and I felt as though I'd disappointed him. "They say write what you know, but you're something else."

I didn't respond while I washed the dishes. Then I left the kitchen and went towards the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Billy started to come after me, but I ducked inside the bathroom and grinned.

"Not right now, Billy. I'm washing my hair." I thought I heard him chuckle as he went to sit on the sofa.

***

I emerged from the bathroom in a pink robe and slippers, my hair still slightly wet. I hopped up on the sofa, curled my feet up under me, and grabbed my notebook from the table beside the sofa.

I was on one end of the sofa and Billy was on the other. I glanced over at him. He had turned on the phonograph and was reading the newspaper, seemingly oblivious to my scrutiny. I scooted a little bit closer and tried to work on my latest story.

I looked up and Billy was watching me. We locked eyes for a moment and he looked back down again. I inched closer again and he sighed, throwing his arm over the back of the sofa. "Come on, Doll."

I grinned and nestled up beside him. "Aren't you going to ask what I'm writing?"

"No," he replied. "I figure you're going to tell me anyway."

"Oh." I tilted the notebook so he couldn't see what I was writing. "I'm writing a new story, Billy. It's about a dame who gets lost in the big city and gets found by a handsome cop."

He looked at me and shook his head. "Really, Annie? Is that all I am...another character in one of your stories?"

I pouted. "No! I just wanted to see what you would do. I'm rewriting my story so it'll be more realistic. Billy...are you upset about...me and Neil's friends?"

Billy's arm settled on my shoulders and his fingers trailed through my damp hair. "I don't know that I'd say upset...I'm certainly surprised."

I pulled my robe a little tighter around my shoulders. "I'm sorry...I can't undo all those evenings, Billy. But we do have this evening..." I trailed off, looking up at him.

He sighed. "You really are a vamp." Then he leaned over to kiss me. He seemed...distracted? Hesitant? "You need to know what real love is, Annie. It's not just some feeling you get, it's something you do."

"I know that!"

Billy sighed. "That's not what I meant. When you love someone, you don't overlook their flaws. You try to help them become better."

"Are you saying I'm flawed?" I joked.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." He tilted my chin up and I realized he was being serious. "Annie, didn't you ever think that you might be hurting those men?"

"No! They were the ones who left, not me." Even as I spoke, I wondered. Would one of them have gone steady with me if I'd asked? If I hadn't shut them out? The thought of what I could have missed made tears well up in my eyes.

Billy reached out to wipe the tears away, one hand still under my chin. "This is what real love looks like, Annie. If someone really loves you, they'll tell you the truth and ask hard questions. You know what the good part about real love is?"

"Is there one?" I sniffed and he chuckled.

"Of course there is, you dizzy dame. If someone really loves you, they'll love you even if you're a vamp or a quiff or a Bug-eyed Betty. It doesn't mean they won't try to fix you, but they'll always have your best interest at heart." He kissed me again, more passionately this time. My heart felt a little bit lighter. Love might not pay the rent, but it could make me forget about it for a while.

We talked about what our next move should be. We would keep trying to figure out who committed the murder, and we would stick together so Billy could keep me out of trouble. I told him how I thought I had seen Smith following me, and he frowned, but didn't seem too worried.

After a while, I stood up and brought Billy a few extra blankets. He had insisted on sleeping on the sofa. "Goodnight, Billy."

"Goodnight, Doll."

I lay in bed, trying to puzzle out what was going on. First on my list of things to worry about was Smith. If he had been the one following me, he had probably followed Billy to my flat earlier. He already thought that Billy wasn't on the level and seemed to have something against him, which meant he could have been trying to dig up some dirt on Billy.

I tried to see the scene from Smith's point of view. Billy had gone inside a flat, then come back out. A dame came out after him - the same dame who had wanted information about Shamus's murder. Smith followed the dame and watched as Billy drove into the alley, talked with the NoLuks, then drove off with the dame. If Smith was trying to frame Billy, he'd have a perfect opportunity after today.

Smith had also been the one who mugged Tres Gunn, Billy told me, so there was some reason why he didn't want Shamus's murder investigated. Why? He had no motive for killing Shamus or even being involved in mob business - as far as I knew.

Then there were the NoLuks. If Neil's fight had been fixed, then at least two people knew about it. Neil's opponent, and whoever acted as go-between for Shamus and the NoLuks. Xiao was either the opponent or he was the go-between. Madame Yu would probably have frowned on fight-fixing, so Xiao had a reason to pretend he didn't know anything about Neil's death in front of the rest of the Tong. Maybe he just wanted to be sure no one would snitch on him.

Suddenly I heard the motor of a car start outside. Heart pounding, I peeked out the window and saw a car pulling away from my flat. I tiptoed into the living room and was relieved to see Billy's sleeping form still on the sofa. He didn't leave. But that meant someone had been parked in front of my flat all evening. I would tell Billy about it in the morning, I decided. I snuck to the door and double-checked the lock, then went back to bed.